Inspiring Quotes 20
“The most powerful force in American democracy is the connection between and among citizens,” David B. Smith, NCoC’s Executive Director. Source: ncoc.net / USA links *"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas." *"If you are gathering information or knowledge from a community, you should consider yourself an instrument of the community, providing it with a service rather as them providing you with a service. The information gathered must remain theirs, not yours." Saul Cozens, September 2010, based on Chris Messina’s comments in 2006 about neue sweatshop labor / davepress.net / Community involvement UK *"a revolution doesn't happen when a society adopts new tools - it happens when it adopts new behaviours." Clay Shirky / Values * "We now understand better than ever that innovation is very often a social, interactive process rather than one of individual creativity, and that networks play a vital role in the creation and the transfer of new knowledge and innovation." David H Hargreaves * "We are entering the era of transparency" John Taylor / Community involvement * "The twentieth century has transformed the entire planet from a finite world of certainties to an infinite world of questioning and doubt. So, if ever there was a need to stimulate creative imagination and initiative on the part of individuals, communities and whole societies that time is now. The notion of creativity can no longer be restricted to the arts; it must be applied across the full spectrum of human problem-solving." Our Creative Diversity, UNESCO / Arts and culture * "Allowing ordinary people to participate in the policy-making process is a way of, if not overcoming, then greatly reducing a government's inability to see the bigger picture." John Turnbull / Community involvement * "Government is too big and too important to be left to the politicians." Chester Bowles / Community involvement * "Our house is burning down and we are blind to it. The earth and humankind are in danger and we are all responsible. It is time to open our eyes. Alarms are sounding across all continents. We cannot say we did not know! Climate warming is still reversible. Heavy would be the responsibility of those who refuse to fight it." French President Jacques Chirac, August, 2002 *"A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people." Franklin Roosevelt *"Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money." Cree Indian Proverb *"One Touch of nature makes the whole world kin." William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Troilus and Cressida * "Source Reduction is to garbage what preventive medicine is to health." William Rathje, Atlantic Monthly, December 1989. *“Every increase in local capacity to grow food, generate energy, repair, build and finance will strengthen the capacity to withstand disturbances of all kinds. Distributed energy in the form of widely disbursed solar and wind technology, for example, buffers communities from supply interruptions, failure of the electrical grid, and price shocks. Similarly, a regionally based, solar-powered food system would restore small farms, preserve soil, create local employment, rebuilt stable economies, and provide better food while reducing carbon emissions and dependence on long-distance transport from distant suppliers. The primary goal in rethinking development and economic growth is to create resilience – capacity to withstand the disturbances that will become more frequent and severe in the decades ahead”. David Orr, ‘Down to the Wire Category:Inspiring quotes